accountancy top75 firms survey 0214 (1)

n top 75 firms survey briefing

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www.accountancylive.com

february 2014 accountancy

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It has been a year of contrasting fortune for the UK’s top accountancy firms. Mergers, acquisitions, administrations and rescues have all featured. Some firms have seen falling profits, others

the opposite, with a similar picture emerging for fee income. Although many firms have cut staff numbers, others have been making bold expansion claims.

But amid this complex picture, the sector as a whole has kept its head above water – overall fee income has increased by more than 4% over the course of the year, with staff numbers edging up in a similar fashion. In total, the firms in Accountancy’s 2014 Top 75 survey earned nearly £11.5bn, up from £11bn in the previous 12 months. Average profits have also increased, but only marginally, by around 1%.

The big story of the year was the demise of RSM Tenon, bringing to a close a decade long story of the listed consolidator. Baker Tilly stepped in to acquire the firm in a pre-pack administration last September – the combined reported income of the two firms topped £330m in 2013, which would have made them the sixth largest firm in the UK. It will be interesting to see whether this revenue is achieved in the next 12 months, but each of the firms saw a fall in income over their latest financial year.

A growing BDO, which reported a 10% increase in fees bolstered by its merger with

PKF, could force Baker Tilly down a peg in the pecking order when the merger beds down.

Meanwhile, BDO itself was consolidating its own merger, which came into force during the final three months of BDO’s financial year. ‘A large amount of our growth has come from the merger,’ says Simon Michaels, BDO’s managing partner.

‘However, there has been some organic growth in a few areas, predominantly in financial services, advisory, specialist tax and international projects.’ Encouragingly, Michaels says he has seen the market for the firm’s services pick up over the last six months of 2013. ‘This is definitely coming through in the number of opportunities we are seeing,’ he says, ‘both with existing clients and new clients. There is definitely more liquidity in the market.’

However, he does not believe that the Competition Commission’s investigation into the large firm audit market has significantly altered the landscape so far. ‘It is a start,’ he says, ‘but buyer behaviour is ingrained and it will take time to change.’ Instead, Michaels sees more opportunities for the firm in non-audit services in this area of the market.

It is a similar story at Grant Thornton, the UK’s fifth largest firm by fee income. Scott Barnes, the firm’s managing partner, saw fee income increase 13%, buoyed by significant wins in the financial services sector and public

A spate of mergers

between the top 10 sees a shake-up at the top, with more

changes set to come,

reports Philip Smith

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year of cuts and mergers

The revenue challenge reflects the ongoing challenges in the market.

Inevitably one of the biggest costs we have is our employee base

Marianne Fallon, director of corporate affairs, KPMG

Growth is definitely coming through in the number of opportunities we are seeing with

existing clients and new clients. There is definitely more liquidity in the market

Simon Michaels, managing partner, BDO

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Our corporate finance practice

is beginning to see its pipeline increasing

and our clients are beginning to increase their

discretionary spending

Scott Barnes, managing partner, Grant Thornton

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sector work – the impact of taking on contracts from the old Audit Commission was felt during the second half of the firm’s financial year.

‘Talking to our partners around the firm, the indications are that our clients are now beginning to see the benefits of the economic recovery,’ Barnes says. ‘Our corporate finance practice is beginning to see its pipeline grow and our clients are beginning to increase their

discretionary spending.’ In particular, Barnes is seeing growth in work outside the south east of the country.

However, he does not expect the firm to consider any mergers in the near future and rejects the idea of ‘bulking up for the sake of it’. Instead, he will focus on targeted deals, such as last July’s acquisition of the financial services arm of Navigant Consulting.

Fee income:

Audit and assurance

Tax

Consulting and corporate finance

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

893

PwC Deloitte KPMG EY

909 963

634 645 659

804 907 999

628 652 663

511 534 529

459 517 926

458 456 469

350 392 380

397 481 925

403 444 478

360 372 431

309 370 722

2,3312,461

2,621

1,5981,703

2,118

1,2051,329

1,774

1,072 1,186

1,631

Total of all three

2010 2011 2012 2013 2010 2011 2012 2013 2010 2011 2012 2013 2010 2011 2012 2013

2,689

2,306

969

680

1040

742

563

1001

1,814

434

343

1073

478

455

507

1,721


bIG fOur

Fees by service line

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brIefIng top 75 firms survey n accountancy february 2014

year of cuts and mergers

We have set ourselves a challenging

growth target for the coming financial year

and so far we are completely on budget

Ian Powell, senior partner, PwC

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Note: Deloitte UK fee income only, excludes £209m revenue for Switzerland

PKf is a game changer for us. We are now working with the agreement of

PKfI to select the firms that we want

Carmine Papa, senior partner, PKF Littlejohn

I don’t think we are heading into a period of exuberant

growth but we have definitely made a bet that the uK and global economies are getting stronger

Steve Varley, senior partner, EY


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10challenges in the market,’ says Marianne Fallon, KPMG’s director of corporate affairs. ‘Inevitably, one of the biggest costs we have is our employee base. During the 2013 financial year we looked at our staff model across the business. There were some parts of the business where we didn’t have the right mix, and so made some redundancies, but we have also recruited heavily into other parts of the business.’

Fallon also adds that the firm looked to improve the efficiency of its cost base. ‘We have really focused on how we manage our resources, their mobility and flexibility,’ she says. She also says the firm is expecting to see real growth in the coming year, but like Varley, she says there is unlikely to be ‘an explosion’ of client activity.

bIg four domInanceOf course, three quarters of the sector’s fee income is tied up in just four firms – PwC, Deloitte, EY and KPMG. Combined, they accounted for more than £8.7bn in fee income, an increase of £352m on the previous year and accounting for 76% of total income.

All four firms managed to increase their fee income, but with varying degrees of success. While Deloitte pushed up its fees by 8% and EY by 5.5%, PwC only recorded 2.6% growth while KPMG struggled to achieve a mere 0.4% increase.

But the profitability story is different, with KPMG outstripping its competitors by producing a 30% hike, driven by a series of job cuts and restructuring across the firm. It was a different scenario at the three other Big Four firms.

Deloitte’s profitability fell by 22%, with both PwC and EY recording more modest increases of 2% and 3% respectively. Clearly, the firms are taking different approaches to managing their businesses.

EY, in particular, has made a big deal out of its desire to take on more professional staff in the coming year and was the only Big Four firm to show an increase in staffing levels last year.

‘It is a statement of confidence and intent,’ says Steve Varley, EY’s senior partner. ‘In the first half of this [financial] year, we have maintained momentum in line with last year’s results, which is the culmination of several years of strategic planning through the downturn. I don’t think we are heading into a period of exuberant growth but we have definitely made a bet that the UK and global economies are getting stronger.’

At the same time, the firm also rebranded, dropping the Ernst & Young name, and moving to the shorter EY label last autumn.

KPMG’s approach has been different, attacking its cost base so that it was able to boost profits by 30% while seeing its fee income growing marginally to £1.81bn. ‘The revenue challenge reflects the ongoing

IncOme by servIce lIne

Audit And AccountingTOP 75

totAl income oF top 75 Firms

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£bn

2007 2011201020092008

10.33

8.809.36

9.92 9.82

11.03

2012 2013

11.48


rank 2013 (2012)

firm £m 2013

£m 2012

% change

1 (1) PwC 969.0 963.0 1

2 (2) Deloitte1 742.0 663.0 12

3 (3) EY 507.0 478.0 6

4 (4) KPMG2 434.0 469.0 -7

5 (5) Grant Thornton 131.1 120.0 9

6 (6) BDO4 111.0 96.0 16

7 (7) Baker Tilly3 108.0 139.0 -22

8 (8=) Mazars6 81.3 68.8 18

9 (10) Moore Stephens 38.3 57.0 -33

10 (12) Crowe Clark Whitehill 34.4 33.1 4

11 (13) Haines Watts Group7 31.5 31.5 0

12 (14) UHY Hacker Young9 25.3 25.7 -2

13 (15) Kingston Smith10 23.3 23.5 -1

14 (20) MHA MacIntyre Hudson 22.6 21.0 7

15 (16) Smith & Williamson5 21.1 22.2 -5

16 (17) Saffery Champness 18.6 17.4 7

17 (18) Wilkins Kennedy 17.6 16.7 5

18 (19) Chantrey Vellacott DFK 12.3 12.0 3

19= (-) Francis Clark 11.9 11.6 3

19= (-) Buzzacott 11.9 10.0 19

Total 3,352.1 3,268.5 1.4

Footnotes: see page 16. This chart only features figures where reported

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The majority of fee income is

earned by the Big Four, accounting for 76% of

total income at £8.74bn, up slightly from £8.35bn

in 2011/12

£8.74bn

Note: 2012 and 2013 top 75, 2007 to 2011 top 60

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11mId-tIer expansIonBut while the big firms have been slugging it out, there has been some interesting movement further down the league table. Mazars, which saw a 4.7% growth in fee income to £120.4m, took on a number of former RSM Tenon partners in the East Midlands and Edinburgh. And then in December it announced that it would be acquiring Deloitte’s public sector internal audit business, which provides services to local government and health organisations in London and the south east.

Mazars says the move would complement its existing strengths in its public sector external audit work. The firm also acquired Sarah Butler Associates, a specialist immigration services consultancy, during its financial year.

Other firms in the mid-tier were also on the

acquisition trail during 2103: the Haines Watts Group took on new practices in Bromley and Godalming, while MHA Macintyre Hudson acquired HMT Assurance, which became its Reading office. Johnston Carmichael took on Ritson Smith, while Wilkins Kennedy acquired Matthews Mist during the financial year and then CW Fellowes in November 2013.

Further down the table, Barber Harrison & Platt merged with Barron & Barron in York and Carter Backer Winter (CBW) got together with Backstone Franks. In Scotland, French Duncan merged with Macfarlane Gray.

top 10 aspIratIonsJohnston Carmichael was also part of another intriguing move, as it joined PKF International (PKFI). The international network had of course been left high and dry by the departure of its UK firm when PKF (UK) merged with BDO last year. This left PKFI with a large hole to fill with no obvious single firm available to fill it. So instead, the network took a more regional approach, signing up Johnston Carmichael to cover Scotland and the north, Cooper Parry for the Midlands and Littlejohn for London and the south east.

The move is interesting as it points to the prospect of a new top 10 firm if the three members, plus any subsequent joiners, bring their operations closer together.

PKF Littlejohn, as the firm quickly rebranded itself, had fees of £15.8m, Johnston Carmichael had some £33.4m while Cooper Parry brought a further £15.6m to the party.

Carmine Papa, PKF Littlejohn’s senior partner, says they are looking for more firms to join to fill the regional gaps, particularly in the south west and Manchester. ‘It’s a game changer for us,’ he says, ‘and it has already produced a number of referrals and reciprocated work. We are now working together with the agreement of PKFI to select the firms that we want.’

If the firms were to formally merge, in terms of fee income around the £65m mark, 12

IncOme by servIce lIne

tAx bIG fOur

pre-tAx proFit And pArtners

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

Pre-tax pro�t £m Partners

3,029

1,9941,948

2,717

0.2% 0.9%

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Pre-tax pro�t £m Partners

2,991

2,0411,948

2,964

+4.8%

+0.9%

2,598

2,010

4.6%-3.0%

2,971

2,173

-2.0%9.0%

2010201120122013


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rank 2013 (2012)

firm £m 2013

£m 2012

% change

1 (1) PwC 680.0 659.0 3

2 (2) Deloitte1 563.0 529.0 6

3 (3) EY 455.0 431.0 6

4 (4) KPMG2 343.0 380.0 -10

5 (5) Grant Thornton 91.4 91.9 -1

6 (6) BDO4 86.0 80.0 8

7 (7) Baker Tilly3 77.0 81.0 -5

8 (9) Smith & Williamson5 37.3 34.0 10

9 (11) Haines Watts Group7 23.5 21.0 12

10 (13) Mazars6 20.7 19.5 6

11 (-) Frank Hirth 20.6 n/a n/a

12 (12) Moore Stephens 19.7 20.5 -4

13 (-) SJD Accountancy 19.0 n/a n/a

14 (14) Saffery Champness 15.2 14.2 7

15 (15) Crowe Clark Whitehill 13.8 14.0 -1

16 (-) Buzzacott 12.8 11.8 9

17 (17) MHA MacIntyre Hudson 11.3 9.6 18

18 (16) UHY Hacker Young9 10.4 10.2 2

19 (18) Chantrey Vellacott DFK 8.9 7.8 14

20 (-) Francis Clark 8.5 6.7 27

Total 2,517.0 2,421.2 1

Footnotes: see page 16. This chart only features figures where reported

% change

Total fee income for the top 75 in 2012/13 was

£11.48bn, recording 4% annual growth, up from

£11.03bn

£11.48bn

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this would put them on a par with Haines Watts, Crowe Clark Whitehill and Saffery Champness, all currently ranked just outside the top 10. But Papa is aiming higher, saying he could see the firms breaking into the top 10. ‘That is the plan,’ he says. Such aspiration will no doubt be helped by an increase in corporate activity as business confidence turns into substantive action.

economIc upturnPapa has already seen a significant uptick in his corporate finance business over the past six months, with overseas companies looking to

access the UK capital markets, particularly AIM. ‘The model is that we take companies to market and then retain the audit,’ Papa explains.

So it would appear that firms across the board have been following different paths to weather the economic storms of the past few years. Some have held their nerve and retained their staff in order to take advantage of the economic upturn, while others have sought to improve efficiency and flexibility. Several have found strength in numbers by coming together to offer a greater breadth of services. But all will be looking forward to the coming year as one of opportunity.


ParTner value

income And proFit 2013 (2012)

rank firm fees (£m) Pre-tax profit (£m)

Partners fee/partner ratio (£000s)

1 (1) PwC 2,689.0 (2,621.0) 740.0 (727.0) 840 (872) 3,201 (3,006)

2 (2) Deloitte1 2,515.0 (2,329.0) 610.0 (560.0) 983 (991) 2,558 (2,350)

3 (3) KPMG2 1,814.0 (1,806.0) 455.0 (349.0) 583 (617) 3,111 (2,927)

4 (4) EY 1,721.0 (1,631.0) 368.0 (358.0) 565 (549) 3,046 (2,971)

5 (5) Grant Thornton 471.2 (417.1) 73.1 (69.1) 206 (202) 2,287 (2,065)

7 (6) BDO4 312.0 (283.0) 55.0 (51.2) 209 (196) 1,493 (1,444)

8 (8) Smith & Williamson5 185.8 (179.1) 29.4 (27.9) 261 (254) 712 (705)

12 (14) Crowe Clark Whitehill 60.7 (59.3) 15.3 (15.1) 72 (72) 843 (824)

14 (15) Begbies Traynor Group8 51.1 (57.7) 6.7 (6.9) n/a (-) n/a (-)

17 (19) MHA MacIntyre Hudson 39.3 (35.2) 9.6 (9.8) 66 (42) 595 (838)

21 (23) Menzies 30.3 (28.5) 8.4 (8.5) 34 (34) 891 (839)

23 (25) Francis Clark 25.8 (22.1) 8.7 (7.5) 47 (44) 549 (502)

26 (27) FRP Advisory 21.5 (21.8) 8.4 (8.9) 37 (28) 581 (779)

27 (30) Frank Hirth 21.3 (19.0) 1.9 - 24 (17) 888 (1,116)

28 (29) Price Bailey 20.6 (19.3) 3.5 (4.2) 22 (22) 936 (877)

29 (28) Reeves & Co 20.0 (20.3) 5.8 (5.9) 40 (39) 500 (521)

40 (38) Cooper Parry 15.6 (15.8) 5.1 (5.2) 22 (22) 708 (718)

44 (41) Shipleys 12.4 (13.6) 3.9 (5.2) 15 (16) 827 (850)

45 (46) Barnes Roffe 12.0 (12.3) 5.2 (5.4) 18 (19) 666 (646)

46 (51) Hillier Hopkins 11.9 (10.8) 3.9 (3.6) 20 (22) 595 (489)

47 (49) James Cowper 11.8 (10.9) 2.5 (2.2) 13 (14) 908 (779)

54 (57) SRLV 10.0 (9.2) 3.0 (3.2) 13 (9) 770 (1,020)

56 (53) Simmons Gainsford 9.9 (10.1) 2.4 (2.2) 15 (14) 658 (718)

57 (56) Rothman Pantall 9.7 (9.6) 2.7 (1.9) 20 (20) 485 (480)

58 (59) Dains 9.4 (8.3) 2.9 (2.5) 18 (20) 519 (415)

60 (-) Spofforths 9.3 (9.0) 1.7 - 17 (-) 544 (-)

61 (-) Scruton Bland13 8.9 (8.8) 2.4 - 11 (-) 809 (-)

63 (-) Berg Kaprow Lewis 8.3 (7.7) 2.5 - 12 (-) 692 (-)

64 (-) Cowgill Holloway 8.3 (8.0) 2.2 - 11 (12) 755 (667)

65 (-) Gerald Edelman 8.3 (7.9) 2.8 - 12 (-) 692 (-)

67 (-) French Duncan 8.0 (8.0) 2.0 (2.0) 22 (20) 364 (400)

68 (-) Alliotts 7.8 (7.4) 2.3 (2.0) 13 (14) 600 (529)

70 (-) Whittingham Riddell 7.0 (6.9) 1.6 - 12 (-) 583 (-)

72 (-) Jeffreys Henry 5.6 (5.3) 2.2 - 9 (-) 622 (-)

75 (-) Wright Vigar 4.0 (3.5) 0.9 (0.7) 7 (7) 572 (506)

Total 10,176.6 (9,722.3) 2,450.9 (2,245.1) 4,269 (4,188)

average 987 857

Footnotes: see page 16. This chart only features reported P&L

Male partners Female partners Other staff

71,677 63,537 75,599 78,606

4,906736

4,913 5,131 5,375

2009 2010 2011 2012

756862 887

Number of:

Male partners

Female partners

Other staff

66,035

57,868

76,553

83,039

4,906736

4,913

5,085

5,361

2009

2010

2012

2013

756

896

890

TOP 75

stAFFing levels

HOW THe TOP 75 Is cOmPIled Information is collected through a questionnaire sent out by Accountancy and completed by firms. Wherever possible, we adhere to firms’ description of service lines and structure, and rely on the integrity of the information provided. The aim is to produce consistent information as far as possible and for this reason we have not excluded firms or groups with an unusual structure, although the question of whether some in the list are ‘firms’ in the traditional sense remains open to debate.

*

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briefing top 75 firms survey n

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Pwc

the view From the top

smITH & WIllIamsOn

the view From the middle

frencH duncan

the view From scotlAnd

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Robert Kerr, chairman at French Duncan, says: ‘We are still in the throes of the recession up here and are quite pleased we have maintained our

income. We are seeing signs of growth in outsourcing, where we are now doing more management accounts work and book-keeping services. People are realising it is better than employing someone for 52 weeks a year when they only work 36 weeks.

The increase in the audit threshold has not helped, but audit is really a thing of the past. Banks are looking at management accounts that have been examined by a firm of accountants. But we do audit one listed company, and are in fact one of the few independent firms [in Scotland] that can still audit PLCs.

With the vote on Scottish independence, uncertainty is the biggest problem. People are not going ahead with inward or outward investment, everyone is holding fire. Even if we don’t get independence, we already have devolved tax, and if nothing else happens, we could get a different rate of income tax anyway.’

french duncan 2013 2012

Fee income £8m £8m

Profit £2m £2m

Profit per partner £90,900 £100,000

Partners 22 20

Staff 165 140

Kevin Stopps, co-CEO of Smith & Williamson, says: ‘In the first six months of the new financial year we saw a 10% increase in revenue compared with the same time in the prior year. Will this be sustained in the next six months? It could be too early to call but my colleagues are optimistic. The economic recovery is fragile, and although economic data could put pressure on interest rates, any increase could be disastrous.

‘There has been a material improvement in transactional-based activity, and our corporate finance team have worked on 13 deals so far [in 2013], compared with only three

deals for the whole of last year.‘Competition will remain over all

clients; when we are pitching for new business, the Big Four are being very aggressive on pricing, even though our focus is on owner-managed

businesses and private clients.‘We are not looking for any

mergers, we don’t need the scale and it is easier to integrate smaller teams.’

smith & Williamson 2013 2012

Fee income £185.8m £179.1m

Profit £29.4m £27.9m


Partners 261 254

Staff 1,193 1,227

Ian Powell, senior partner at PwC, says: ‘We have set ourselves a challenging growth target for the coming financial year and so far we

are completely on budget, with growth significantly above last year’s 4%. In fact, November 2013 was our fastest growing month for five years.

‘The growth is coming from across the business. There is good growth in our assurance business,

tax has had a really good five months and consulting continues to grow. There has been more deal and IPO activity, which are both good indicators for the economy.

‘We are working with the outcome of the Competition Commission’s investigation – it is there and has been factored into our finances. But we have real concerns with the EU proposals. The first is the cost for businesses for mandatory audit firm rotation, and the second is that if you say that the incumbent auditor can’t pitch then you have immediately eliminated one of the competitors from the market. It puts regulation ahead of good governance.’

Pwc 2013 2012

Fee income £2,689m £2,621m

Profit £740m £727m


Partners 840 872

Staff 16,580 16,700

n top 75 firms survey brIefIng



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1 (1) PwC 2,689.0 2,621.0 2.6 3,201 3,006 840 LLP Yes Crowe Clark Whitehill 30/06/13 2003

2 (2) Deloitte1 2,515.0 2,329.0 8.0 2,558 2,350 983 LLP Yes Grant Thornton 31/05/13 2003

3 (3) KPMG2 1,814.0 1,806.0 0.4 3,111 2,927 583 LLP Yes Grant Thornton 30/09/13 1996

4 (4) EY 1,721.0 1,631.0 5.5 3,046 2,971 565 LLP Yes BDO 28/06/13 n/a

5 (5) Grant Thornton 471.2 417.1 13.0 2,287 2,065 206 LLP Yes Mazars 30/06/13 2013

6 (9) Baker Tilly3 337.0 365.0 -7.7 1,066 1,594 316 LLP Yes Kingston Smith 31/03/13 2007

7 (6) BDO4 312.0 283.0 10.2 1,493 1,444 209 LLP Yes PwC 05/07/13 2004

8 (8) Smith & Williamson5 185.8 179.1 3.7 712 705 261 Ltd Yes Grant Thornton 30/04/13 2009

9 (10) Moore Stephens 131.7 135.9 -3.1 834 894 158 Ltd/N n/a n/a 31/12/13 n/a

10 (11) Mazars6 120.4 115.0 4.7 1,115 1,000 108 LLP Yes Crowe Clark Whitehill 31/08/13 n/a

11 (13) Haines Watts Group7 60.8 58.0 4.8 529 496 115 LLP No n/a 31/03/13 n/a

12 (14) Crowe Clark Whitehill 60.7 59.3 2.4 843 824 72 LLP Yes Grant Thornton 31/03/13 2005

13 (16) Saffery Champness 58.9 56.1 4.9 949 951 62 P No n/a 31/03/13 n/a

14 (15) Begbies Traynor Group8 51.1 57.7 -11.4 n/a n/a n/a Listed Yes Deloitte 30/04/13 n/a

15 (17) UHY Hacker Young9 48.3 48.8 -1.0 604 588 80 note Yes See note 30/04/13 n/a

16 (18) Kingston Smith10 40.5 40.7 -0.5 686 656 59 LLP Yes Price Bailey 30/04/13 2006

17 (19) MHA MacIntyre Hudson 39.3 35.2 11.6 595 838 66 LLP Yes Hillier Hopkins 31/03/13 2005

18 (21) Johnston Carmichael 33.4 29.6 12.7 630 658 53 LLP Yes Price Bailey 31/05/13 2011

19 (20) Wilkins Kennedy 31.5 30.2 4.1 507 512 62 LLP Yes Harmer Slater 30/04/13 2012

20 (22) Chantrey Vellacott DFK 30.5 28.6 6.8 726 649 42 LLP Yes Grant Thornton 30/12/13 2006

21 (23) Menzies 30.3 28.5 6.2 891 839 34 LLP Yes Princecroft Willis 30/06/13 2009

22 (24) Buzzacott 27.9 25.4 9.6 1,072 1,017 26 LLP Yes Hillier Hopkins 30/09/13 2007

23 (25) Francis Clark 25.8 22.1 16.7 549 502 47 LLP Yes Price Bailey 31/03/13 2011

24 (26) TaxAssist Accountants11 24.5 21.8 12.4 130 119 188 F nte Price Bailey 31/12/12 2007

25 (-) HW Fisher & Company 23.7 23.4 1.4 817 n/a 29 P No n/a 30/04/12 n/a

26 (27) FRP Advisory 21.5 21.8 -1.4 581 779 37 LLP Yes BDO 30/04/13 2010

27 (30) Frank Hirth 21.3 19.0 12.3 888 1,116 24 Yes Manningtons 30/06/13 2004

28 (29) Price Bailey 20.6 19.3 6.7 936 877 22 LLP Yes n/a 31/03/13 2004

29 (28) Reeves & Co 20.0 20.3 -1.5 500 521 40 LLP Yes Clive Owen & Co 31/05/13 2008

30 (32) SJD Accountancy 19.0 17.6 8.0 - 17,600 1 Ltd Yes Kingston Smith 31/10/13 2011

31 (31) Armstrong Watson 18.8 18.1 3.9 570 670 33 P No n/a 31/03/13 n/a

32 (33) Haysmacintyre 18.3 17.4 5.2 678 696 27 P No n/a 31/03/13 n/a

33 (35) Duncan & Toplis 17.8 17.1 4.1 636 633 28 P No n/a 31/03/13 n/a

34 (34) Hazlewoods 17.4 17.1 1.8 916 900 19 LLP Yes Princecroft Willis 30/04/13 2006

35 (36) Streets12 16.9 16.9 n 0.0 845 845 20 note No n/a 30/06/13 n/a

36 (40) Anderson Anderson & Brown 16.7 14.3 16.8 1,392 1,192 12 LLP Yes Bill Hay & Co 31/03/13 2013

37 (43) Bishop Fleming 15.8 13.2 19.7 632 528 25 P No n/a 02/06/13 n/a

38 (37) PKF Littlejohn 15.8 16.2 -2.5 545 523 29 LLP Yes Price Bailey 31/05/13 2009

39 (39) Lovewell Blake 15.7 15.5 1.3 604 596 26 LLP Yes Crowe Clark Whitehill 30/09/13 2011

40 (38) Cooper Parry 15.6 15.8 -1.4 708 718 22 LLP Yes Buzzacott 30/04/13 2003

41 (42) Larking Gowen 13.7 13.5 1.5 685 675 20 P No n/a 31/03/13 n/a

42 (44) AIMS 13.0 13.0 n 0.0 57 55 229 P No n/a 30/04/13 n/a

43 (45) Mercer & Hole 12.5 12.5 0.2 737 658 17 P No n/a 30/09/13 n/a

44 (41) Shipleys 12.4 13.6 -8.8 827 850 15 LLP Yes SRG 30/04/13 2008

45 (46) Barnes Roffe 12.0 12.3 -2.4 666 646 18 LLP Yes HW Leicester 30/06/13 2009

46 (51) Hillier Hopkins 11.9 10.8 10.5 595 489 20 LLP No Price Bailey 31/03/13 2008

47 (49) James Cowper 11.8 10.9 8.3 908 779 13 LLP Yes Monahans 30/04/13 2012

48 (-) Moore & Smalley 11.6 11.3 2.7 644 n/a 18 LLP Yes n/a 31/03/13 2007

49 (54) Barber Harrison & Platt 11.2 10.0 12.0 659 667 17 P No n/a 31/12/13 n/a

50 (50) Silver Levene 11.1 10.7 4.0 655 713 17 LLP Yes Pritchard Fellows & Co 31/05/13 2011

51 (48) Henderson Loggie 11.0 11.3 -2.2 524 489 21 P No n/a 30/11/12 n/a

52 (47) Scott-Moncrieff 11.0 11.3 -2.7 786 753 14 P No n/a 01/04/13 n/a

53 (55) Forrester Boyd 10.8 9.7 11.3 771 746 14 P No n/a 31/03/13 n/a

54 (57) SRLV 10.0 9.2 9.0 770 1,020 13 P No n/a 30/06/13 n/a

55 (53) Beever and Struthers 10.0 10.3 -2.9 455 448 22 P No n/a 30/09/13 n/a

rank 2013 (2012)

firm

fee income

2013 £m

Partners

auditor

auditor tenure

year end

annual accounts

status

fee/partner ratio

2013 £000s

fee income

% change

fee income

2012 £m

fee/partner ratio

2012 £000s

TOP 75 fIrms

survey: uk AccountAncy Firms leAgue tAble

brIefIng top 75 firms survey n



15

16


56 (53) Simmons Gainsford 9.9 10.1 -1.8 658 718 15 LLP Yes Sopher & Co 31/03/13 2005

57 (56) Rothman Pantall 9.7 9.6 1.0 485 480 20 LLP Yes Mazars 31/03/13 2009

58 (59) Dains 9.4 8.3 12.7 519 415 18 LLP Yes Price Bailey 31/03/13 2007

59 (-) Lubbock Fine 9.3 9.1 1.5 773 n/a 12 P No n/a 30/11/12 n/a

60 (-) Spofforths 9.3 9.0 3.2 544 n/a 17 LLP Yes Price Bailey 31/12/12 2011

61 (-) Scruton Bland13 8.9 8.8 1.1 809 n/a 11 P No n/a 31/03/13 n/a

62 (-) Carter Backer Winter 8.6 7.7 11.7 614 550 14 LLP Yes Rickard Keen 31/03/13 2010

63 (-) Berg Kaprow Lewis 8.3 7.7 7.8 692 n/a 12 LLP Yes Leslie Woolfson & Co 31/03/13 2003

64 (-) Cowgill Holloway 8.3 8.0 3.8 755 667 11 LLP Yes Champion & Co 31/05/13 2010

65 (-) Gerald Edelman 8.3 7.9 5.5 692 n/a 12 P No n/a 31/03/13 n/a

66 (60) RGL Forensics 8.3 8.2 1.2 1,383 1,367 6 LLP Yes CBHC 31/03/13 2012

67 (-) French Duncan 8.0 8.0 n 0.0 364 400 22 LLP Yes Parkhill Mackie & Co 30/04/13 2007

68 (-) Alliotts 7.8 7.4 5.4 600 529 13 P No n/a 30/06/13 n/a

69 (-) Brebners 7.6 8.1 -5.8 475 n/a 16 P No n/a 05/04/13 n/a

70 (-) Whittingham Riddell 7.0 6.9 1.4 583 n/a 12 LLP Yes Garratts 31/03/13 2004

71 (-) Chiene + Tait 6.0 5.5 9.1 667 n/a 9 P No n/a 30/09/13 n/a

72 (-) Jeffreys Henry 5.6 5.3 5.7 622 n/a 9 LLP Yes n/a 30/04/13 n/a

73 (-) Bird Luckin 5.1 4.7 8.1 461 426 11 Ltd No n/a 30/09/13 n/a

74 (-) Harris Lipman 4.8 5.1 -6.9 679 567 7 LLP No n/a 31/03/13 n/a

75 (-) Wright Vigar 4.0 3.5 13.0 572 506 7 Ltd Yes n/a 31/03/13 n/a

Total 11,483.3 11,026.2 4.1 827* 714* 6,104

1 (1) PwC 840 872 3,201 3,006 130 127 16,580 16,700 2,689.0 2,621.0 34

2 (2) Deloitte1 983 991 2,558 2,350 143 140 13,648 13,754 2,515.0 2,329.0 24

3 (3) KPMG2 583 617 3,111 2,927 87 91 10,752 11,612 1,814.0 1,806.0 22

4 (4) EY 565 549 3,046 2,971 113 93 13,688 10,500 1,721.0 1,631.0 23

5 (5) Grant Thornton 206 202 2,287 2,065 28 26 4,028 3,665 471.2 417.1 28

6 (9) Baker Tilly3 316 229 1,066 1,594 n/a 66 3,990 4,405 337.0 365.0 64

7 (6) BDO4 209 196 1,493 1,444 23 23 2,503 2,337 312.0 283.0 25

8 (8) Smith & Williamson5 261 254 712 705 52 48 1,193 1,227 185.8 179.1 12

9 (10) Moore Stephens 158 152 834 894 26 22 947 1,348 131.7 135.9 35

10 (11) Mazars6 108 115 1,115 1,000 14 11 1,340 1,200 120.4 115.0 18

11 (13) Haines Watts Group7 115 117 529 496 10 12 771 789 60.8 58.0 53

12 (14) Crowe Clark Whitehill 72 72 843 824 11 12 573 564 60.7 59.3 9

13 (16) Saffery Champness 62 59 949 951 13 14 497 470 58.9 56.1 10

14 (15) Begbies Traynor Group8 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 11 501 462 51.1 57.7 34

15 (17) UHY Hacker Young9 80 83 604 588 14 13 654 649 48.3 48.8 23

16 (18) Kingston Smith10 59 62 686 656 13 13 401 407 40.5 40.7 6

17 (19) MHA MacIntyre Hudson 66 42 595 838 9 9 473 496 39.3 35.2 13

18 (21) Johnston Carmichael 53 45 630 658 4 3 500 440 33.4 29.6 13

19 (20) Wilkins Kennedy 62 59 507 512 8 8 421 414 31.5 30.2 13

20 (22) Chantrey Vellacott DFK 42 44 726 649 5 7 303 303 30.5 28.6 9

21 (23) Menzies 34 34 891 839 2 2 306 314 30.3 28.5 6

22 (24) Buzzacott 26 25 1,072 1,017 4 3 275 233 27.9 25.4 1

23 (25) Francis Clark 47 44 549 502 5 5 394 384 25.8 22.1 7

24 (26) TaxAssist Accountants11 188 183 130 119 35 39 666 676 24.5 21.8 237

25 (-) HW Fisher & Company 29 n/a 817 n/a 1 n/a 193 n/a 23.7 23.4 2

26 (27) FRP Advisory 37 28 581 779 0 0 185 149 21.5 21.8 12

27 (30) Frank Hirth 24 17 888 1,116 9 6 198 172 21.3 19.0 2

28 (29) Price Bailey 22 22 936 877 1 0 260 280 20.6 19.3 7

rank firm

Partners

fee income

£m

female

partners

Total staff

fee/partner

ratio £000s 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012

Offices

TOP 75 fIrms

tAlent: pArtners And stAFF levels 2013 (2012)

rank firm

fee income

2013 £m

Partners

auditor

auditor tenure

year end

annual accounts

status

fee/partner ratio

2013 £000s

fee income

% change

fee income

2012 £m

fee/partner ratio

2012 £000s

n top 75 firms survey brIefIng



16

29 (28) Reeves & Co 40 39 500 521 7 8 273 260 20.0 20.3 4

30 (32) SJD Accountancy 1 1 - 17,600 0 0 160 170 19.0 17.6 10

31 (31) Armstrong Watson 33 27 570 670 4 4 371 342 18.8 18.1 14

32 (33) Haysmacintyre 27 25 678 696 7 6 160 160 18.3 17.4 1

33 (35) Duncan & Toplis 28 27 636 633 1 1 316 292 17.8 17.1 10

34 (34) Hazlewoods 19 19 916 900 2 2 216 198 17.4 17.1 5

35 (36) Streets12 20 20 845 845 3 3 109 109 16.9 16.9 10

36 (40) Anderson Anderson & Brown 12 12 1,392 1,192 3 3 195 168 16.7 14.3 1

37 (43) Bishop Fleming 25 25 632 528 3 3 245 267 15.8 13.2 7

38 (37) PKF Littlejohn 29 31 545 523 5 5 152 127 15.8 16.2 1

39 (39) Lovewell Blake 26 26 604 596 2 2 228 230 15.7 15.5 6

40 (38) Cooper Parry 22 22 708 718 1 1 189 170 15.6 15.8 4

41 (42) Larking Gowen 20 20 685 675 2 2 242 245 13.7 13.5 9

42 (44) AIMS 229 238 57 55 18 n/a n/a n/a 13.0 13.0 224

43 (45) Mercer & Hole 17 19 737 658 6 6 137 130 12.5 12.5 3

44 (41) Shipleys 15 16 827 850 2 2 87 94 12.4 13.6 2

45 (46) Barnes Roffe 18 19 666 646 2 1 110 109 12.0 12.3 3

46 (51) Hillier Hopkins 20 22 595 489 1 2 123 105 11.9 10.8 4

47 (49) James Cowper 13 14 908 779 3 3 153 144 11.8 10.9 6

48 (-) Moore & Smalley 18 n/a 644 n/a 6 n/a 230 n/a 11.6 11.3 5

49 (54) Barber Harrison & Platt 17 15 659 667 4 3 217 186 11.2 10.0 5

50 (50) Silver Levene 17 15 655 713 1 1 95 90 11.1 10.7 1

51 (48) Henderson Loggie 21 23 524 489 6 6 170 189 11.0 11.3 4

52 (47) Scott-Moncrieff 14 15 786 753 2 2 151 165 11.0 11.3 3

53 (55) Forrester Boyd 14 13 771 746 0 0 183 164 10.8 9.7 5

54 (57) SRLV 13 9 770 1,020 0 0 110 90 10.0 9.2 1

55 (53) Beever and Struthers 22 23 455 448 5 5 176 139 10.0 10.3 3

56 (53) Simmons Gainsford 15 14 658 718 1 1 85 81 9.9 10.1 2

57 (56) Rothman Pantall 20 20 485 480 2 2 140 151 9.7 9.6 12

58 (59) Dains 18 20 519 415 3 3 131 127 9.4 8.3 6

59 (-) Lubbock Fine 12 n/a 773 n/a 0 n/a 75 n/a 9.3 9.1 1

60 (-) Spofforths 17 n/a 544 n/a 4 n/a 174 n/a 9.3 9.0 5

61 (-) Scruton Bland13 11 n/a 809 n/a 3 n/a 145 n/a 8.9 8.8 -

62 (-) Carter Backer Winter 14 14 614 500 0 0 89 80 8.6 7.7 1

63 (-) Berg Kaprow Lewis 12 n/a 692 n/a 2 n/a 91 n/a 8.3 7.7 1

64 (-) Cowgill Holloway 11 12 755 667 1 2 108 107 8.3 8.0 3

65 (-) Gerald Edelman 12 n/a 692 n/a 0 n/a 88 n/a 8.3 7.9 3

66 (60) RGL Forensics 6 6 1,383 1,367 1 1 55 51 8.3 8.2 2

67 (-) French Duncan 22 20 364 400 5 4 165 140 8.0 8.0 6

68 (-) Alliotts 13 14 600 529 1 1 70 n/a 7.8 7.4 2

69 (-) Brebners 16 n/a 475 n/a 2 n/a 83 n/a 7.6 8.1 2

70 (-) Whittingham Riddell 12 n/a 583 n/a 1 n/a 165 n/a 7.0 6.9 3

71 (-) Chiene + Tait 9 n/a 667 n/a 2 n/a 100 n/a 6.0 5.5 2

72 (-) Jeffreys Henry 9 n/a 622 n/a 0 n/a 45 n/a 5.6 5.3 1

73 (-) Bird Luckin 11 11 461 426 4 5 70 60 5.1 4.7 1

74 (-) Harris Lipman 7 9 679 567 1 1 44 45 4.8 5.1 2

75 (-) Wright Vigar 7 7 572 506 1 1 78 72 4.0 3.5 6

Total 6,104 5,916 827* 714* 869 881 83,039 79,207 11,483.3 11,026.2 1,154

notes1 Includes £209m revenue for Switerland2 Corporate finance includes transactions

and insolvency, consulting includes all corporate finance

3 Figures combine Baker Tilly with RSM Tenon. Baker Tilly fee income was £167m (31/3/13), RSM Tenon fee income was £170m ( 30/6/13)

4 Figures supplied as at year end 05/07/2013 but are unaudited. Figures are 9 months BDO plus three months’ combined firm

5 Smith & Williamson Holdings Limited is the overall holding business

6 Audit includes corporate finance and consulting. Consulting includes insolvencies and forensic accounting

7 Some offices are not LLPs8 Figures taken from annual report9 Group of independent firms with a

shared brand10 Consulting includes £2.6m insolvency

and £1.5m wealth and pensions fees11 Each TaxAssist franchisee operates as a sole

trader, part of partnership or limited company. TaxAssist Direct (franchisor) publishes accounts

12 Firm made up of legal entities, limited and unlimited companies

LLP, limited liability partnership; P, partnership; F, franchise: N, network LLP/company pre-acquisition Unlisted plc * Average partner ratio

rank firm

Partners

fee income

£m

female

partners

Total staff

fee/partner

ratio £000s 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012

Offices

TOP 75 fIrms

tAlent: pArtners And stAFF levels 2013 (2012) cont’d

accountancy top75 firms survey 0214 (1)

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